adminThey are demanding that the town council construct houses for them first at their new area before they could relocate.
Zvishavane Town Council successfully applied to the Government to take the Mabula area for urban expansion.
The development meant that the 36 households who have been occupying the area since 1982 must relocate.
Officials from the Zvishavane district administrator’s office said a new area in Manjere Ranch along the Buchwa-Rutenga road was identified for the affected families, but they were reluctant to move to the new area.
The officials said the Zvishavane district administrator, Mr Nyasha Zindove, Zvishavane Town Council officials, and the local traditional leader, Chief Masunda, recently met the families in a bid to end the impasse.
“The resettled farmers are attacking private developers who were hired by the local authority to start surveying the area as they are resisting relocation. They have tabled a number of conditions that they wanted met before they could relocate. The resettled farmers are demanding that the town council build them modern standard houses like what mining companies do when they relocate villagers for development purposes,” he said.
The official said the villagers were set to have another meeting with officials from the DA’s office and Zvishavane Town Council after last weekend’s meeting failed to yield any fruits.
“Chief Masunda is sympathising with the villagers. Another meeting to try and end the impasse will be organised soon,” he said.
One of the affected villagers, Mr Rainford Kamuchacha, confirmed that as villagers they submitted a list of their demands.
He said they were pained by the DA’s office’s failure to inform them of plans to relocate them on time.
“We were only surprised when developers came to our area with earth moving machinery but work has now been put on hold after we protested. We want to be given a compensation plan because we have been living in this area since 1982. Some of our relatives’ graves are here and will have to be exhumed if we are to relocate,” he said.
Mr Zindove admitted that the villagers were not informed of the relocation plans on time.
He, however, insisted that everything was in order for the smooth relocation of the affected villagers.
“The Government is the one that allocated these villagers the area they are staying now and there is no way they will be abruptly moved. Everything is in order and we have only hinted to them on the latest developments. This does not mean they are moving like tomorrow. Everything has to be done procedurally. Their relocation to a new area will not be carried out in the near future,” said Mr Zindove.
He said it was not a new phenomenon for villagers to be moved to pave way for urban development programmes.
“It’s not the first time for such a programme to be done. There is no way the villagers would resist relocation when everything was done above board,” said Mr Zindove.
Online Reporter